..Systemic inflammation in patients with COPD may worsen during exacerbations, but there is limited information relating levels of systemic inflammatory markers with symptoms and physiologic changes during an exacerbation..

..This discussion is framed by a consideration of the properties of ideal biomarkers for different clinical and research purposes and the best uses for those biomarkers that have already been proposed and investigated...

..Integrative analysis of GWAS and gene expression data from relevant tissue from diseased subjects has located potential functional variants in two known COPD genes and has identified a novel COPD susceptibility locus...

Bronchodilator responsiveness and onset of effect with budesonide/formoterol pMDI in COPD

..Although the staging boundaries were based on existing literature, they have proven useful in predicting survival. We conclude that a multidimensional grading system is useful to assess the impact of COPD...